With four minutes to go in last night’s game against the Flyers, Steve Staios laid out Philadelphia’s Max Talbot along the side boards. The referees did not assess a penalty on the play and explained to coach Peter Laviolette that they didn’t think the head was the principal point of contact. By the looks of it, this should at least make it to Brendan Shanahan’s desk even if there isn’t a penalty levied against Staios.

Talbot would stay in the game — didn’t even go to the locker room — so I wonder if there’s going to be some questions about protocol following from the league. Clean or not, Talbot clearly got hit in the “upper body area” and stayed down for a good amount of time. That should require a precautionary trip to the quiet room which did not occur.

Of course, Talbot isn’t going to be getting much sympathy around Islander Country. As a Penguin last season he laid out the departed Blake Comeau numerous times and was a general thorn in the Islanders side every time they played the Penguins over the past few seasons.

It’s hard to tell from these replays exactly what happened but it seems pretty obvious to me that Staios makes contact with Talbot’s head. I can’t tell if that was through an elbow or shoulder though. The way these things go, I think Staios will get one game in the press box for the hit. As a first time offender, that should keep Shanahan’s ban to a minimum.